It’s part of why I came back in February — I’d heard about the flowers, didn’t imagine it was a festival to rival the you-know-which-state’s State Fair.

I left from here with the kids …

Lots to see and to do, as the students set up their booth- full of purses, backpacks, key chains ( which some village people make for the kids to sell)…& food.

No more photos of the kids, who finally packed it in at 10pm, but speaking of food–

En route to a booth

Light batter, rolled sausage(hot dog)

Hard-boiled eggs-on-a-stick

…and on and on it went.

Beyond food, jewelry, clothes…

Jackets selling fast, as the Mercury dipped below 80 in the a.m.

Finally- I left at 7:30, it started at 9(-ish) – The Flower Parade.

Some random photo videos here —

Yes, that is his brow being wiped – by 10, it was getting warm.

Replica of The Three PrincesMonument…

LIVE replica–

Many,many more flowered floats, but IMHO —BEST IN SHOW….

PS So, perhaps it’s not like the Minnesota State Fair at all — have I been away so long, that it just felt like it for awhile? Probably.

Or as one MN friend who knows this place well has put it, “You’re becoming allergic to Mai Pen Rai…” Someday, I’ll explain, or try to. For now, experiencing it (Mai Pen Tai) as I am, it is enough to say I’m finding life here boulversant/amazing.